This invention generally relates to an improved ligature for securing a reed to the mouthpiece of a single reed woodwind instrument.
The field of endeavor of this invention is old and well developed. Numerous reed instruments have been devised throughout history and their modern counterparts have changed little in essential structural and operational characteristics. Likewise, the below-listed criteria of instrument builders and musicians regarding ligature means have not changed significantly:
1. The ligature must be mechanically competent to position and retain the reed in proper juxtaposition to the mouthpiece; PA1 2. The ligature should facilitate easy attachment and careful adjustment of the reed relative to the mouthpiece; PA1 3. The ligature must embrace the reed and mouthpiece with sufficient radial compression to perform its reed-retention function while, at the same time, permitting the development of those vibratory characteristics of the reed-mouthpiece-ligature assembly most productive of the fuller, richer, mellower sounds highly desired by instrumentalists; PA1 4. The compressive forces imparted to the reed and mouthpiece when operatively embraced by the ligature should be distributed in a manner that does not inhibit the beneficial vibrational coaction of the reed-mouthpiece-ligature assembly; and PA1 5. The degree of surface engagement between the ligature and the reed should not cause excessive damping of the sound emanating from the reed and mouthpiece.
Early ligatures, as the word suggests, comprised a length of stout string wrapped continuously about the reed and mouthpiece. Such string ligatures provided satisfactory mechanical means for retaining the reed in its mounted position upon the mouthpiece. Many modern musicians believe that the yieldability and resilience of such string ligatures facilitated the production of superior tone, timbre and responsiveness which established the standards in these catagories. Indeed, this ancient method of reed retention is employed yet today with respect to certain double reed instruments. Despite the fact that string ligatures do satisfy most of the five criteria listed hereinabove, they have fallen into general disuse with respect to single reed instruments due to the considerable time required to handwind the string properly about the reed and mouthpiece and because such ligatures do not allow quick and easy adjustment and replacement of reeds. Moreover, the wrapping technic required for successful use of string ligatures cannot be readily mastered by beginning, usually youthful, instrumentalists.
For the reasons just stated, split ring ligatures made of thin, light metal have generally replaced string ligatures, at least with respect to single reed instruments such as clarinets and saxophones. This well-known ligature device typically includes one or more thumbscrews penetrating threaded bores through the opposed ends of metallic rings or bands for drawing these ends together whereby the rings unyieldably embrace the reed and mouthpiece to secure the same in assembled relation with considerable compressive force. Contrary to the difficulties encountered with string ligatures in assembling and accurately adjusting the reed to the mouthpiece, the split ring-thumbscrew construction greatly simplifies these tasks for both professional musicians and inexperienced players.
Even though the split ring ligature has become very popular, many instrumentalists detect a noticeable reduction in tone quality compared to the mellowness and fullness produced with a string wound ligature. Most investigators of this problem have concluded that unyielding metallic split ring ligatures produce clamping forces which act upon both the mouthpiece and the reed in a deleterious manner. Some posit that compressive forces produced by this ligature inherently diminish the free vibration of the reed and mouthpiece. Others believe that poorly situated, localized points of contact between the ring ligature and the reed and mouthpiece contribute to the tinny and unsteady tone produced. Some reason that the ligature ring or rings stress the reed shank unequally or non-homogeneously whereby excessive unit pressures acting only upon certain segments of the reed degrade instrument performance.
The proposed remedies for the recognized loss of tone quality encountered by split ring ligature users have been at least as plentiful and varied as the aforerecited theories regarding the causes of this problem; and, numerous remedial ligature constructions have been described in a substantial body of prior art. For example, prior United States patents disclose various resilent materials mechanically retained between a split ring ligature and a reed embraced thereby to cushion and/or equalize the reed vibration damping pressure exerted by the ligature. U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,575,621 (rubber); 1,801,421 (cork, felt, rubber); 2,292,584 (felt strips); 2,648,246 (resilient metal); 4,428,271 (mechanical spring, elastomeric or plastomeric material); 4,941,385 (sound vibration insulation such as foam rubber and pliable plastic).
Many prior art split ring devices have been structrually modified to minimize ligature contact with the reed and/or to provide ligature-to-reed contact only at certain selected locations in the belief that the reed was thereby rendered more free to vibrate whereby better tone and/or quicker response were provided. U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,791,929 (essentially line contact between two longitudinally extending, raised bars spaced near the longitudinal centerline of the reed); 2,837,003 (point contact only intermediate the ends of the reed away from its lateral edges); 3,410,170 (ligature has raised longitudinally extending bars each bar having spaced lands for contacting the reed); 4,080,866 (ligature has transverse bars extending across the reed and contacting the same only at its longitudinal centerline); 4,745,838 (longitudinally extending shoulders are raised on the interior ligature wall and provide line contact with the reed along the longitudinal edges thereof); 4,941,385 (the ligature carries a plate having raised longitudinally extending rails in line contact with the convex reed surface); 5,000,073 (a pair of longitudinally spaced, circumferential ribs project radially inwardly from the ligature wall to provide the sole clamping contact with the reed).
After metallic split ring ligatures were introduced, attempts were made to modify this basic ligature construction so that it could yieldably retain the reed upon the mouthpiece more in the manner of a string ligature. An early U.S. Pat. No. 555,561 to Cadwallader shows an alternative ligature which suggests split metal brackets between which a length of stout cord is interwoven. Thumbscrews draw the brackets together to cause the cords to embrace the reed and mouthpiece in a yieldable fashion. A similar version of the Cadwallader ligature is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,258,604. In U.S. Pat. No. 2,483,327 the stout cord suggested by Cadwallader is replaced by a piece of flexible fabric which is gripped by rigid brackets movable by thumbscrews in the usual manner to draw the fabric compressively inwardly against the reed. Another attempt to approximate string ligature tone quality in a thumbscrew tightenable device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,056,997 where a unitary plastic strip overlies most of the reed shank and compressivly surrounds a major portion of the outer circumferential surface of the mouthpiece.
None of the just described thumbscrew-actuated ligatures which are intended to embrace the reed and mouthpiece yieldably and to promote maximum vibration leading to the classic tonal qualities of a string ligature have been broadly accepted by reed instrumentalists. This is because these prior art ligatures place all or at least a major portion of the reed shank and mouthpiece surface in direct contact with some pliable material such as cord, nylon string, woven or knitted fabric, or plastic thereby damping or totally eliminating desirable vibrations and resonances with might otherwise be produced by a reed-mouthpiece-ligature assembly. Many players rate this class of yieldable ligature as unacceptable due to the production of overly dark, even dull tones throughout the entire range of the instrument.
Prior art split ring ligatures structurally similar to those typically fabricated of thin metal, but which are instead made of pliant plastic, would appear to combine advantageously the resilient reed clamping effect of a string ligature and the handiness of a thumbscrew clamping mechanism. Flexible and somewhat elastic strap portions of known plastic ligatures transversly overlie one or more segments of the reed shank and generally conform to the surface configuration of the shank when drawn into engagement therewith by the tightening action of one or more thumbscrews. Windows or cutout portions in the prior art plastic ligatures generally conform in area and shape to those of metallic split ring ligatures and serve to avoid the overly dark tones attributable to the yieldable ligatures of Cadwallader and others of that type discussed hereinabove.
Any of these prior art plastic ligatures might finally have brought together a flexible ligature and a thumbscrew tightener to provide superior tone quality as well as ease of operation; nevertheless, each has failed to do so to any substantial degree. Thus, U.S. Pat Nos. 3,205,753 to Luyben; 3,618,440 to Ratterree; and 4,275,636 to Van Doren disclose plastic strap-thumbscrew ligatures which have purposely incorporated structural features which largely eliminate the string ligature effect otherwise made available by the flexibility and resilence of their plastic straps. While each of these ligatures could have resiliently embraced the reed shank without the high compressive forces of its metallic counterpart, each appears to have deliberately added specific structure which creates deleterious unit pressure levels when the ligature is tightened. In this regard, the Luyben ligature displays four small projecting nodules providing the sole contact points with the reed. Ratterree's plastic ligature strap has two projecting bars which hold the reed in place with a minimum of surface contact; and, Van Doren shows two spaced plastic split rings formed with projecting ribs intended to limit the contact area between the ligature and the reed. Thus each of these plastic ligatures, displays some bort of protrusion in compressive engagement with the reed which produces highly localized stress in the reed leading to an undesirably bright, reedy tone throughout an instrument's entire range.
From the foregoing discussion, it appears that those pliant, split ring ligature constructions found in the prior art pertinent to this invention have failed to emulate the venerable string ligature because, in some cases, too much of the reed surface is overlain and constrained by the ligature body resulting in dull, overly damped tone characteristics, or because, in other cases, exaggerated efforts to reduce aggregate ligature-to-reed contact area produce bright, reedy tone characteristics.